#tno:pandora

[rhyaxxyn]

INFINITE TANGENTS Character Intro

Part One: Protagonists

A Goddess Wishing to Run...

A God With a Lost Past...

A Girl Broken By War...

Their Stories Collide at the Beginning of the End.

Pandora and Quinn wanted nothing to do with the Nameless War between gods and humans from the beginning, but due to their remarkable abilities and the Natural Orders they represent in the universe they are seen as perfect fits for the fight. Decades later they are still working for opposite causes, each of them leading their people through the ongoing war. Quinn and Pandora find their lives suddenly colliding together after a rescue mission though, and Pandora has no choice but to keep the God of Stars around. She would usually be thrilled to have someone join her in the fight to unite gods and humans, but Pandora has a closet full of skeletons from her past. A past Quinn is unknowingly apart of. Now she must juggle her responsibilities as a leader and mentor while finding a way to keep the awakening demons in her head at bay. Loyalties whither and fear awakens in both Pandora and Quinn's life as the Nameless War approaches its tipping point. The only thing that might change it all is the truth, but Pandora can't decide what would be worse: to let the past fly free or watch the world burn.

Pandora always had a faint feeling she shouldn’t have stayed on Earth; not when humanity didn’t believe in the gods, nor when they finally did. But she stayed through it all, hiding amidst their masses, getting in trouble even when it was the last thing she meant to do. So when the Nameless War started, it only made sense that she was there for that too. 

Leading a colony of humans and gods at least keeps her distracted by a past that is a void to everyone who knows her in Domum Deorum, the city she created to harbor those who wanted to remain neutral to the war. That is until she meets Quinn, Omne’s infamous and dangerous skijic who also happens to be a friend from her shadowy past which he might reveal to the entire world, Might, if only he remembered it.

Quinn didn’t mean to become Omne’s General. He never wanted the position, but two years into his hesitant servitude to her she posed the question, and he, ready as always, saw a way to go behind her back. Now, decades into pretending to be her loyal general, sneaking innocent humans into safe havens, doing whatever he could to maintain the name skijic without being one.

Fifty-six years into the Nameless War he gets involved with Domum Deorum, a secret colony of humans and gods led by Pandora, the supposed Goddess of Nothing. Thrown into a side of the war he never knew existed, Quinn begins uncovering things about his past. A past he didn’t know he had. A past with Pandora.

Natia Genesis is the heiress to Genesis Point, but she is more of a slave to the whims of General Ophelia Serpentine who uses her for her skills in deitology. Perhaps she’d be happier to serve humanity if it weren’t for the fiery past Natia has with the Revolutionists.

Getting a very sudden and confusing commission, Natia begins working on a whole other level of mystery regarding the gods. Not to mention what she and her friends are doing is nothing but conspiring against the Revolutionist military and humanity. Natia just wants to finish her commission and run away forever, but when truth after truth is revealed, she is faced with the truest form of darkness she’s ever seen. The only question is, will she survive it?

-

End Note:

This is something I wanted to recreate since I just came back! I’ll be posting a lot more tno content so if you’d like to be tagged let me know and I can happily add you to a tag list!

[rhyaxxyn]

INFINITE TANGENTS - WATTPAD STORY UPDATE

He didn't look away from her hands, didn't speak. The skin on the pads of her fingers was dark and rough. He could barely see the lines of her fingerprints. Then the tape fell from her palm.

He thought the scars under her eyes were bad, but the one on her right hand was painful to look at. It was a brand, the lines perfectly straight like those under her eyes. The skin still looked raw. Branches of red splintered onto her fingers. It wasn't just a mindless scratch or accidental mark, but a design. A marker. It was the Star of Creation.

"You really were a Phantom Sun." Pandora's movements shuddered to a halt. She looked up at him through her lashes. Her eyes practically dared Quinn to utter one more syllable, but he shut himself up.

"No," she looked down at her other hand and began taking the tape off, "I wasn't."

"Oh yeah." Quinn nodded. "You just created them."

Pandora's head shot up, her eyes glaring. "What are you trying to do here, Quinn?"

"I want to become one," he said. By the expression of surprise on her face, Quinn could tell that his response was unexpected. "One of your Phantom Suns."

She furrowed her brows, not looking down as she ripped off the last of her tape. "Why?"

THE NATURAL ORDERS | READ IT HERE | WIP PAGE

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@lightningmastertrilogy | @kittykatlizz | @halleiswriting | @paxtonwrites | @stop-that-llama | @maezily | @thegrievingyoung | @riseofthesea | @sunlight-and-starskies | @sautrns

[rhyaxxyn]

Starting WC: 76422

Current WC: 93500

Net WC: 17078

Total Chapters: 37

Chapters Written: 9

“I don’t want to be alone in the pain,” she admitted. “It’s dumb. I know. You can go ahead and tease me or--”

“Eternity,” he stopped her before he could be victim to another one of her rantings. Before he could hesitate Quinn pulled her into his embrace. She stilled against his chest. Now that was a line neither one of them should cross, but he did. And for some spectacular reason, he did not regret it. Damn the line. Damn the distance. He wanted to keep her close. To hold her and feel her heartbeat pounding in tandem with his. 

“So long as I’m alive you will never be alone in your pain.”

“A lengthy promise,” she said reluctantly. Still, her arms moved around his waist.

He smiled. “I hope so.”

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[rhyaxxyn]

“Well hello, beautiful.”

Omne smiled. There was danger in that expression. Powerful, dangerous beauty. It was in every bit of her. The way her hair was effortlessly swept back into a tight bun, the way the gold flecks in her eyes glimmered, how the metal talons designed specially for her tapped against the tulle of her dress. Pandora saw through it all. Saw what the gold and purple tint around her tried to hide, distract from, and she knew it was dangerous.

Pandora glared back at the hologram, her arms crossed over her chest, not bothering to stand. Omne rolled her eyes and ran her hands down the back of her thighs. The action pushed her dress forward while she sat down in a chair that had just come into view.

“Don’t be like that,” she said. “Tell me what’s wrong. What is it, that so shakes your heart, my dearest Pandora? What makes the ground beneath your feet split love. What is so ruinsome that-”

“I’m going to shoot you,” Pandora hissed at last, stopping Omen before she could go another dumb metaphor forward.

“I wasn’t finished yet.”

“You are now.” Pandora crossed her legs. Her feet subtly pointed to her bedroom door. She wanted to sleep. Even her subconscious was telling her to now.

“You’re no fun,” Omne grumbled. “Especially when you haven’t slept. How long has it been, huh?” Pandora tried to look away from her by facing the window. She was only meant with darkness though and remembered that she cloaked everything. “One week? Two? How bad is it Pandora?”

“How bad do you assume?” she asked.

“I don’t like to assume.” The tulle of Omne’s dress shifted as she did. “I like to know.” Pandora swallowed hard and glared back at the hologram.

“Don’t act like you care,” she asserted. “Neither of us deserve it.”

“I don’t care,” Omne said it back too quick, too defensively. “What I am offering you is professional courtesy.” Pandora scoffed and really looked Omne in the eyes. For a single moment, there was a moment of sincerity between them. Then it turned sour again.

“We were never very courteous in the first place,” she said. “Don’t start thinking we are now.”

“Can’t we at least pretend?” Pandora offered no answer, instead glaring into Omne’s hazel eyes. There would be no point in acting, in pretending. They would both know it was a lie anyway. “Fine then. Why the hell did you call me, Pandora? Unless you were just planning on scowling at me this entire time.”

Pandora did not speak yet again. She just watched Omne. Watched her sit, watched her wait, watched her tap her gold claws on her dress.

“You had him,” she muttered. “You had Quinn all this time, you disguised him as a warmongering monster so I would never even guess, dressed him up in satin suits and gave him proud stallions to ride into battle, turned him into the skijic. You did that, and go on to expect me to show you courtesy. Professional nonetheless.”

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[rhyaxxyn]

Mind, Body, Heart, and Soul.

Anyone who looked at them at that moment wouldn’t see the Queen of the Silent Kingdom with her right hand, but rather two untamable beasts—two skijics—ready to tear the old world apart.

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[rhyaxxyn]

Starting WC: 40,931

End WC: 47707

Net WC: 6776

Chapters written: Middle of 19 through 21

Chapter summaries:

19. Orion, Lily, and Nya meet Quinn, helping him settle into Domum Deorum. Nya reveals to Quinn that the Siblings of Pandora each have a special kinesis. Lily uncovers more about Quinn’s identity and asks for Evangelines help.

20. Mayflower meets Juniper and Quinn. Quinn tells Pandora that he knows about the siblings. She looks into his past to be sure he isn’t threatening them. He explains his frustration of feeling like he knows Pandora. Quinn then tells her he wants to do more to help, and asks to learn Alchemy to do so. Pandora hesitantly agrees.

21. Natia grows tired from doing Ophelia’s commission, having not slept for 72 hours. She thinks about her mother’s death and breaks down. Only after Warrick tells her to sleep does she do so. Natia has a strange dream and wakes up, translating the Gods language blueprints somehow and discovering a shocking piece of Ophelia’s plan.

Favorite blurb this week (Rough Draft):

She was standing in her mother’s garden, looking out at her bustling town. The sky was orange and pink and purple and the sun was high in the sky.

Natia breathed it all in, felt the colors on her tongue like water. She tasted them, their sweetness, and swallowed them whole. They went down her throat, smooth as colors should be. Her hair was loose, dipping down to her collar bones. The sun caught the strands just perfectly enough to turn the usually plain brown strands gold.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself.” Her mom appeared at her side. While Natia’s skin had barely tanned through the summer, her mother’s skin was naturally the color of fall leaves and orange amber. She had hair like tar--so dark and smooth that it flowed carelessly in the wind. And her eyes. That was the one thing Natia had inherited from her mom: eyes the color of black coffee, eyes that did not turn to honey in the sunlight but rather red elderberries that had been smashed into the dirt, of dried blood on concrete. Dark eyes.

“I’ve always been more of a Fall person,” Natia explained. Her mom nodded.

“I know, little sparrow.” Little sparrow. That was her nickname for Natia. She had almost forgotten. “Do you still have what I gave to you?” Without saying anything Natia reached into her pocket and pulled out the small box she kept there. It was about the size of her hand. The wood was olive, making it beautiful and unique, and in the sunlight, Natia could see the seven bone inlaid symbols on the top. There was a blank spot in the wood, unblemished and unmarked. Empty and waiting.

“Oh good,” her mom said. Natia offered it to her but she shook her head. She smiled up at her, and Natia suddenly saw something not so human in her mother’s eyes. “Keep it. You will need it, little sparrow.” Natia stilled. That wasn’t her mom’s voice. It was deep and crackled like wood in a fire. Like bones in a fire.

Natia tried to back away, but her foot caught on something and she fell backwards. And she kept falling, the sky and earth stretching out above her until she was going cross-eyed trying to understand the change in the landscape. At last, she landed. Her fingers squeezed the grass below her as she twisted onto her stomach, groaning. Natia looked up.

Her gaze caught on the sun and moon, both of them gazing down at her. Then she heard it. A ticking, like a clock. She glanced behind her to try and figure out what it was. When she did she saw the grass twisting, moving up and down, up and down. Tilting her head. Natia tried to understand what it was that made the shifting so strange.

Not until her feet began to sink into it did she realize it wasn’t grass. She gasped and clawed at the dirt. The water grabbed at her ankles, trying to pull her beneath the surface. Natia closed her eyes, concentrating on holding on.

Tik. Tik. Tik. Tik. Tik. Tik.

She held on tighter as the water lapped further up. Her eyes opened and she looked up towards the sky. In perfect synchronization with the ticking, the sun and moon were approaching one another. Tik. The moon began to overlap the sun. Tik. Light tried to fight past the shadows, but it was being caged, trapped inside the darkness. Tik. The moon completely eclipsed the sun.

Natia didn’t close her eyes, didn’t prepare for the next tik that would allow the blinding light back in. She stared up and waited, but the tik never came.

Her eyes locked onto the moon, the water still trying to coax her in. Natia narrowed her eyes. The eclipse didn’t end, but somehow it seemed like the moon was getting bigger in the darkness. Expanding.

“What?” Natia wondered out loud. The moon offered no answers. Instead, it just kept growing, blocking more and more light as it did so. Then, right on the edge, Natia swore she--

Glass shattered, blowing out around her. At last Natia saw it wasn't a moon. She didn't know what it was. All she knew was to finally let the waves take her under.

The water dragged her lower, the glass above turning to fire as she sank. Natia held her breath. Somehow she knew the water wouldn't be allowing her back to the surface.

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[rhyaxxyn]

Still, she had to force that bitter indifference down her own throat. After what Quinn said when he woke up, Pandora realized she had to be more careful with her own emotions around him. If he remembered everything, she had no idea what the consequences would be for everyone.

The taste of the numbness stung her tongue though. Because there was so much desperation in those three words. I know you. Mother, she hated herself not reacting. For being blank while the endless well of memories started to bubble up around Quinn.

“Don’t look so hurt,” she said, indifferent. “It’s not like you were very loyal to Omne either. How many times exactly did you smuggle out her prisoners or lie about human territories you tore down brick by brick when you were in fact, leading them to save havens?”

“That doesn’t matter,” he hisses back. “I betrayed Omne. Psi betrayed all of us.”

“Psi betrayed a group of smile minded gods because she believed there was a better way to achieve peace. She didn’t betray who she pledged loyalty to though.”

“Which is you and your people,” Quinn said. “And who exactly are your people?” Pandora didn’t answer right way, instead standing up and looking at the bag of crystal clear fluid above Quinn’s head. Seeing that it was close to being empty she sat on the side of his bed.

Her nimble hands went to work on taking out the needle while Quinn watched. She felt his eyes on her gloves, tracing the lines of the white thread.

“Why do you always wear gloves?” he asked. She grabbed a cotton pad and placed it on the injection site while she pulled the needle out.

“People ask a lot of questions about what happened to them if they see them,” Pandora answered. “There are more important things to talk about than battle scars.

“I’ve never met a god who hid their scars,” he said. “Usually they show them off.” Understanding that he wasn’t referring to her hands, but rather the ones he must’ve seen during the raid, Pandora looked up at him.

“Not all battle scars are from valiant effort.” Pandora pulled the other wires off of him, turning off the monitors as she went. “That, and I’d rather not have markers for people to track. Not when I’m trying to run a very covert operation.” Finally, she waved her hand and the restraints on his wrists turned to smoke in the air.

“I assume I’m a prisoner to this covert operation.” Quinn sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. He watched the smoke rise in the air before it faded out of sight. Pandora dug through the closet and pulled out a fresh shirt and pants.

“On the contrary,” she tossed it over to him. He barely caught it, her actions having caught him off guard. “If you choose to stick around, you’ll be our newest member.”

“Meaning I can leave?” Pandora walked over to the door, her hand stilling just over the door handle when she heard him. She turned around slowly to face Quinn. “Me, Juniper, and Felyx. We can leave here and you won’t track us down?”

“Yes,” she replied. “You can leave whenever you want. You can go back to Omne and bring five hundred armed Creators and horses to my doorstep as soon as you get the chance. You can leave Quinn,” she smiles, allowing something to break through that wall of indifference, “but if you do, you will never stop being the Skijic.”

There was silence between them that didn’t disappear until Pandora turned away and opened the door. “It’s up to you,” she told him, closing the door behind her.

A/N: Sorry for the random, unannounced hiatus. Something happened that I’m not really at liberty to say. I’m really glad to be back though and I hope to publish content daily! If you’d like to be tagged let me know :)

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[rhyaxxyn]

And that’s the tragedy, isn’t it? Because he will follow you into war, love, fear, and hope, and it will destroy him.

Bit by bit.

Wound by wound.

Heartbreak by heartbreak.

Until he can follow you no more.

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